Job Search Sites You Don't Know About

It’s very likely you know about Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and TheLadders.com. Big advertising budgets and a plethora of “open jobs” have driven a lot of buzz about these default digital job search sites over the past several years.

I’ve written before about how sites like these can be dangerous. Most often they’re filled with jobs that nobody would want. Why? Because it’s a proven fact that most jobs are filled with qualified internal candidates, contacts of people already employed at the organization or via targeted recruiting by HR. So if none of those have panned out yet and HR is turning to the mass job search boards, it’s a red flag that this may not be that desirable of a job in the first place.

Which is why I find it interesting that there’s a crop of job search sites that are specialized based on industry – and are growing in success in helping companies find the right candidates and vice versa. Sites like StyleCareers.com for fashion, SchoolSpring.com for education positions and MomCorps.com for part-time job seekers (i.e., stay-at-home moms who still want to pick up some hours). You can see a full list of similar sites for a variety of other industry-specific job search sites here.

Now, I’m not suggesting that these sites aren’t going to have some of the same pitfalls as the massive mainstream job search sites. But it’s worth spending a little bit of trying one out if it reflects the field you’re in. If you HAVE ever used one of these sites, please share your experience in the comments!